By Dr Lubinda Haabazoka
About advice
It’s very important to take advice especially from those you are not found with everyday. Unsolicited advice comes with no strings attached and is very beneficial in the long run because the source of the advice is not looking for favours and as such will tell you the truth as it is.
Over a decade, we have spoken about issues affecting the economy. MMD never listened and when they started paying attention, it was too late. Even in the case of PF, it was too late when we moved in to help correct some issues. Surprisingly the most resistance came from the economic wing of government in all cases.
Today, the situation is the same. Most policies were emotionally introduced just to seemingly do away with policies of the previous government. What most people don’t know is that most of the previous government’s policies rolled over from the MMD times. Sata’s link Zambia 8000 was Rupiah Banda’s formula one road project. Even the construction of airports etc was an MMD idea. Anyway this is a topic for another day.
Currently we have a situation where is almost impossible to give advice. But experience has confirmed that it’s better to listen now than later before the damage is done. In the beginning, we spoke about indeni and the need for a stable fuel Price mechanism. All the advice remained ignored. The lagging effect from fuel will be very devastating and unbearable because Zambia’s economy is a truck based system. K30 per litre is very devastating for the economy!
FISP administration should also be closely watched. Many people are being left out. A system is effective when you add more recipients without removing others. We risk losing the many gains we made in terms of maize production if we don’t go back to the old ways. We should not fix that which is not broken. We should only perfect it.
When you are known for the rule of law, don’t make mistakes your friends made in the past otherwise you shall also have the same fate. Political parties are independent clubs and governments should not interfere in their internal affairs. The ultimatum issued by registrar of society to all political parties will infact damage government’s reputation more than even the intended damage to the former ruling party. It’s common knowledge who the target of the communique is. Citizens now don’t want to be controlled as to who they should support. Zambians today can even prefer to support a person just to punish the oppressor. My advice is that the communique is withdrawn because it shall end in tears. Don’t make citizens have sympathy to your opponents. Even international partners especially those from Europe might even ditch you because when it seems you are using the government apparatus to frustrate democracy, they stay away. Trust me on this one, I speak to most of them. They enjoy environments where people are free! Poland was Ukraine’s biggest supporter just the other month but today they are bitter rivals. This area doesn’t have permanent friends. On this one I beg you to listen.
If next year we have a budget like the one which was unveiled the other week, then it will be difficult to show meaningful progress. You can’t have a “status quo” budget when your aim is to achieve big! To move Zambia forward, we need radical changes! Radical decisions. Big innovations. This Is also a story for another day which honey wouldn’t like to engage on for fear of being accused to just be opposing. But just like the fuel issue, time will tell.
Lastly, the best way to achieve your goals is by showing results. To ensure that people don’t pay attention to your opponents, just concentrate on the masses. Deliver and show work. Stop talking about your opponents. Talk more of development and show that development and things will be very good.
Remember, there is always joy when you are in leadership but it’s very painful when one exits. As such, it’s important to listen to a lot of views. When one has power, people judge them on how they treat weaker people. At this point, listen to those that you don’t dine with. Those you dine with don’t want to spoil your dinner by telling you bad news.
Ba LT yesterday you were hacked and blocked from the internet by Hamasaka who with Mweetwa and Kawana are angry with your carrying criticisms of their party. Give us the full story
The error that showed each time you tried to access LT was : Error establishing a Redis connection
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They were off line due to non payment and nothing else